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<TITLE>TOWEY CLAN</TITLE>

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<CENTER><H1>THIS IS THE TOWEY CLAN WEB PAGE</H1></CENTER>

<CENTER><H2>Céad Mille Fáilte</H2></CENTER>

<CENTER><H2>or as our ancestors said: 100,000 Welcomes</H2></CENTER>

How Long Has the Towey Clan Existed?

The Towey Clan was formally recognized by authority of the Clans of Irelandduring the year 2000, and the Toweys attending the first clan meeting accepted this status on Easter Sunday, 15 April 2001 at the Foxhunter Inn, Lucan, Co. Dublin, Ireland

Who Organized the Towey Clan?

Many Toweys in Ireland and America were consulted, but the tasks of securing recognition for the Towey Clan and setting up our first rally depended especially on the vigorous and unfailing efforts of Michael Towey, a native of Attiantaggart Townland in Kilcolman Parish and presently residing in Co. Dublin. Mike's family is part of the "Miller Toweys" of Derrinabrack, so designated in view of their traditional occupation as operators of the Derrinabrack mill after their arrival centuries ago from Co. Cork. With Mike's initial prompting, and aided by contacts through the Internet and more conventional means, an informal network of Toweys grew during the first year of the new millennium. Over 60 people bearing our surname were in attendance on 14 and 15 April 2001, with about half of them coming from America. More would probably have participated except for the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in England as the year 2001 began, which caused the Irish government to impose rural travel restrictions to limit (quite successfully) the spread of that plague.

Who are the Officers of the Towey Clan?

In recognition of his organizational efforts,Mike Towey of Dublin was elected as Clan Taoiseach at the Easter meeting. His deputy or Tánaiste is Mary Towey Ratto of California, whose great great grandfather Paddy Towey was the last operator of the Towey mill in Derrinabrack. Both of these positions are regarded as honorary, which must mean that they only have to perform duties when the spirit moves them. The following executive officers, on the other hand, are supposed to work when we need them:

Patricia Toohey was elected as chief executive officer of the Clan - the Chairperson or Cathaoirleach. Pat lives in Connecticut, and spelling of the family name was changed at Ellis Island when her grandfather Thomas Joseph Towey emigrated from Cloonmeen, Cloontia about 1890. Her family too traces its heritage to the Miller Toweys.

The other executive officers are as follows:

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<TD>Vice Chairperson</TD>

<TD>Leas Cathaoirleach</TD>

<TD>Anthony Towey, Chicago</TD>

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<TD>Membership Secretary</TD>

<TD>Runaí Ballraíocht</TD>

<TD>Kevin Towey, Dublin</TD>

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<TD>National Secretary</TD>

<TD>Runaí Naisiúnta</TD>

<TD>Virginia Mahoney, Minnesota</TD>

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<TD>Treasurer</TD>

<TD>Cisteoir</TD>

<TD>Jason Towey, California</TD>

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<TD>Historian</TD>

<TD>Stairtheoir</TD>

<TD>Helen Towey, California</TD>

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<TD>Genealogist</TD>

<TD>Seanchai</TD>

<TD>Michael Towey, South Dakota</TD>

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<TD>Editor & Webmaster</TD>

<TD>Eagarthóir & Líonfhoirbreoir</TD>

<TD>Dick Towey, Oregon</TD>

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Anthony and Michael’s father was a “Miller” Towey who emigrated from Cloonmeen, Cloontia to America. Kevin is a principal in the Towey Group of pubs and hotels in the Dublin area, and he was our host at the Foxhunter during the Easter rally. Helen is Mary Ratto’s sister and Jason is their nephew, and they too live in California. Virginia is the wife of Bill Mahoney, who traces his ancestry to Broher Townland; they live in St. Paul, MN, where for many years Virginia has been active with the Irish Genealogical Society, Int’l. Dick also traces his origins to Broher and to Barnaboy from where his grandfather emigrated in 1885.

What are the Purposes of the Towey Clan?

The Clan seeks to facilitate communication among the Toweys and to assemble and disseminate what is known about the family's origins so as to develop a greater appreciation of our roots in and around the town of Ballaghaderreen in Ireland..

Where do the Toweys come from?

People bearing the Irish surname of Towey trace their ancestry to four parishes – Castlemore, Kilcolman, Kilbeagh and Kilmovee – in the vicinity of the town of Ballaghaderreen. These four parishes are roughly co-extensive with the ancient territory known as Sliabh Lugha. During prior centuries, all of these were part of Co. Mayo, with the exception of a small portion of Kilcolman parish which was put in Co. Sligo when county bourdaries were specified by the English conquerors about four centuries ago. Thus Sliabh Lugha became the northern half of Costello Barony, at just about the time when predominant ownership of the land was passing from the Costellos to the Dillons. (The Sligo portion became part of the Coolavin half-barony). Following passage of the Irish Poor Law in the late 1830s, Castlemore, Kilcolman and five townlands of Kilbeagh became part of the Castlerea (sometimes Castlereagh) Poor Law Union, and the rest of Kilbeagh and Kilmovee were assigned to the Swineford Poor Law Union. The Sligo townlands went into the Boyle PLU. There have since been a few additional border shifts affecting individual townlands, and some Toweys crossed into Tibohine Parish to the east. Then in 1898 a border change for governmental convenience shifted Castlemore and Kilcolman (including Ballaghaderreen itself) from Co. Mayo to Co. Roscommon. Thus most of the older records of the Toweys may still be listed under Co. Mayo, while those which pertain to1898 and thereafter are mainly found under Co. Roscommon.

Does the Towey surname have an ancient origin? Maybe Not!

Some surname authorities assert that the Toweys are descendants of the 11^th Century petty chieftain named O’Toghdha who lived in Moygawnagh Parish farther to the northwest in Co. Mayo. But there is no evidence that O’Toghdha’s family survived over the succeeding centuries, and when the surname scholars began to inquire into name origins during the early 19^th century, they didn’t ask any of our ancestors of that time what their family legends were.

When our forefathers of the early 20^th century began to compare family legends, O’Toghdha’s name was seldom if ever mentioned. Rather, some – from Kilcolman and Kilbeagh parishes – recalled having been told that their ancestors were originally Touhys who had fled northward from the bloody fighting in Co. Cork between the English and the Irish during the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries. Others – especially from Castlemore – insisted that they were descendants of an O’Neill family who had been transplanted from Co. Tyrone by Oliver Cromwell in the mid-17^th century.

If either or both of these latter explanations are correct, the surname of Towey as such is not ancient; rather it is one which somehow came into being during the 1600s and/or 1700s – i.e. the first 2 of the 3+ centuries of total ascendancy by the English in Ireland. In Ireland, if the surname is spelled as Towey, this virtually guarantees that the family’s origin was in the Ballaghaderreen vicinity. But in the local 19^th Century records, spelling rules were casual and not consistent from one recorded event to the next, such as marriages and baptisms. So the name might be spelled as Touhy, Tuohy, Tuoy or Towey while referring to the same families. The oldest published instance of the spelling as Towey is found in 1796 when the Belfast-based Irish Linen Board donated spinning wheels to Castlemore farmers as part of their policy of promoting linen production. Only since the late 19^th century has Towey become the standardized spelling around Ballaghaderreen.

With the 19^th century emigrations from Ireland, the Touhys from the Cork area and the Tuohys from around the Clare\Galway border, as well as the Toweys from the Mayo\Roscommon\Sligo border, sometimes adopted (or were assigned) variant spellings on reaching their foreign destinations. In America, Australia and elsewhere, such surnames as Tooh(e)y, Tuh(e)y and Twoh(e)y might have come from any of the 3 groups. Tuohy is by far the most numerous of the 3 original surnames and even the Cork Touhys (and thus some Toweys) regard themselves as a sept of the Tuohys. From the sketchy evidence available, the variants - Toohey, etc. – are more likely to have a closer connection with the Tuohys than with the Touhys or Toweys, but in individual instances one needs to inquire into family traditions.

How did the family surname become Towey?

How the surname of Towey emerged cannot be precisely traced. A literate Touhy coming into Co. Mayo during the 18^th or 19^th century might have regarded Towey as merely a local spelling variant, and the “Miller” Towey tradition of a Co. Cork origin would be consistent with this interpretation. But family around Ballaghaderreen who applied to the Irish Linen Board for spinning wheel grants in 1796 would probably have been illiterate because Irish access to schooling was severely restricted under the penal laws. Thus they would have had no role in determining the spelling change. English landholders and their agents and the Scottish troops in Ballaghaderreen in that period may have known of Towie Parish in Aberdeenshire and of the Tywi River in Wales which is anglicized as Towey. In any event,

Supporters of a Towey descent from the O’Neills cite antagonism to that surname (its use was supposedly banned by the English Parliament in the 17^th Century), which forced them to select an alternative. Locally this is said to have become Tully initially, and then to have evolved to Tuffy and finally Towey. Tully can perhaps be explained as a nickname for Tirlagh, for indeed the Cromwell government did transplant a Tirlagh McArt oge O’Neill, grandson of Tirlagh Luineach O’Neill and grandson-in-law of the great Hugh O’Neill, to Kilmovee Parish in 1656. He was assigned land seized from the English owner, Viscount Dillon, who supported (as did Tirlagh) the losing cause of King Charles I during the English Civil War. The subsequent progression through Tuffy to Towey remains unexplained. Alternatively, the name may have emerged from the Gaelic “aduaidh” signifying their journey “from the north”. There is no historical evidence confirming that these aristocratic O’Neills reached Kilmovee or remained there for any length of time. But more humble retainers may have been forced into the journey and could have remained even after King Charles II restored the Irish property of the Dillons in the 1660s. (Bad luck for the O’Neills, but whatever land that ethnic Irish might have retained after the Cromwellian conquest was in any event largely forfeited to the English following the defeat of James II by William of Orange in 1691). This great legend of the O’Neill presence in Mayo’s northeast corner has just enough factual support to rescue it from the wholly fanciful but not nearly enough to resolve lingering challenges to its validity.

For lack of adequate information, the Toweys provisionally accept the dual legends of their origins in Cork and Tyrone, but substantial doubt falls upon the O’Toghdha version proposed by the surname scholars such as John O’Donovan, Rev. Patrick Woulfe and Edward MacLysaght.

How is the Towey surname pronounced?

Nowadays the Towey surname is probably most often pronounced to rhyme with “how”, but the version which rhymes with “who” is also accepted in view of the connection with Touhy\Tuohy. A rhyme with “hoe” suggests that the user is not familiar with the surname.

How can you find out more about your Towey ancestors and their heritage?

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